Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2025).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| cenobite | A member of a religious group living in common, as contrasted with hermits. |
| censorship, religious | The practice of censoring (deleting, banning, altering, excising) letters to and from a country, especially to intercept Christian material. |
| census | A term used here solely for an official government population census (qv) usually with complete (100%) enumeration of the whole population. |
| census | A large-scale formal act of counting or evaluating of people and property. |
| census schedule | A form or questionnaire used for collection of information in a census. |
| Central Amerindian | An American Indian ethnolinguistic family, with 220 languages. |
| central conference | See conference. |
| Central or Broad Church Anglicans | Prayer Book, Liberal or Comprehensive Anglicans, including (from 1976) the New Synod Group; attempting to provide a via media between Anglo-Catholics and Anglican Evangelicals. |
| chain | A second layer of close language relationships in the linguasphere. |
| chaitya | A stupa (qv). |
| Chalcedonian | Eastern Orthodox (qv). |
| Chaldean | The Chaldean or Syro-Oriental or East Syrian rite of the Catholic Church consists of 2 sub-rites: Chaldean, and Syro-Malabarese. |
| Chaldeans | Chaldean-rite Catholics subordinate to Rome. |
| chances | Used in the numerical analysis of distinct occasions or opportunities for persons to become disciples of Christ; synonymous with offers, invitations. |
| chapel | Christian sanctuary other than a cathedral or parish church, sometimes private, sometimes in a school or other institution, or Nonconformist. |
| chaplain | A clergyman officially attached to a school college or other public institution, or to the armed forces or other bodies. |
| chaplaincy | The sphere of work and office of a chaplain (qv). |
| chapter | (1) The body of canons of a cathedral. (2) The regular assembly for business of the canons of a cathedral or collegiate church or religious order or congregation. |
| charisma, charismata | Spiritual gifts or talents divinely granted as exemplified in early Christianity by the power of healing, gift of tongues, or prophesying. |
| charismatic | Gifted, instructed; a person involved in the charismatic renewal. |
| Charismatic | Used here to refer to the organized Charismatic Renewal within the nonpentecostal mainline denominations. |
| charismatic | A religious person or group or movement stressing direct divine inspiration, glossolalia, faith healing and similar ministries. |
| charismatic communities | See basic communities. |
| Charismatic Renewal | The pentecostal or neo-pentecostal renewal or revival movement within the mainline Protestant, Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox churches, characterized by healings, tongues, prophesyings, et alia. |
| Charismatics | Baptized members affiliated to nonpentecostal denominations who have entered into the experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit; the Second Wave of the Pentecostal/Charismatic/Neocharismatic Renewal. |
Data on 18 categories of religion, including non-religious, by country, province, and people.
Data on all religions, Christian activities, and trends.
Membership data, year begun, and rates of change.
Population and religion data on all major cities & provinces.
Detailed information covering religion, culture, and geography.
A repository of historical data, including a chronology of Christianity from the 1st to 21st centuries.